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Nikiski residents eager for LNG answers

AK LNG

 

 

With the Walker administration’s recent announcement that it has a tentative LNG buyer in China, plans for the AK LNG line could be moving forward as soon as the middle of next year.

A representative from the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, the state-owned company running the project now, was in Nikiski Monday night to answer questions residents have had for some time.

 

 

The excitement that once came with talking about a big, new LNG plant in Nikiski might be waning. As a possible starting date for construction gets closer, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, both for residents and for regulators.

 

The non-binding deal with China to take on a three-quarter share of the project’s financing in return for 75% of the line’s capacity has put the wheels in motion again to get the permitting process through. But questions people had about things like rerouting the Kenai Spur highway still haven’t been settled.

 

Fritz Krusen, Vice President of LNG and Administrative Services for AGDC said a new highway route could be determined as soon as January. The highway decision will affect everyone along the North Road. But especially those who live along whatever path is eventually proposed.

“Does AGDC expect it will use eminent domain to obtain land for the highway," Krusen asked, as he went through nearly three pages of questions the council submitted.

 

Well, AGDC doesn’t expect it will use that means of land acquisition, but Krusen couldn’t rule it out, either. He called it a tool in the toolbox.

 

Other concerns had to do with land the Council recently purchased for a park. The gas line, as proposed now, would cut right through that park.

 

And, for some who have been around long enough to remember oil and gas booms of the past, there’s the question of what all those construction workers will do in their off time. Jim Graige was a little skeptical of the plan to keep those thousands of workers in a dedicated camp.

“I’m trying to absorb what you just said. The workers are going to be sequestered on location and all of their off duty hours will be in the camp? They won’t be checking out for their off duty hours to go into the bars, getting into fights or causing disruptions and seeing who they can rob? Good luck with that.”

Call it hopeful pessimism. Some are hopeful the thing won’t get built, and they won’t have to deal with chaos of construction. Some are pessimistic about the state, even with a partner in China, being able to pull off a $43 billion project, but hopeful for the potential upsides.

 

AGDC has tentatively planned another update in Nikiski for February.